Member profile: Steve Remy, mechanical engineer and manufacturing expert

Hardware engineering powerhouse Steve Remy is a walking wealth of manufacturing knowledge. He spent 16 years as a mechanical engineer and director of engineering at a number of firms and companies before founding his own product design and engineering company, Concinity. Steve is also a member of the informal hardware collective, having lent his skills on a variety of projects, including for Dharma Dr., EchoTech, and Guardian Bikes. He’s worked on everything from medical devices to sporting goods, and his expertise spans the whole hardware spectrum, from prototyping to mass production. Did we mention he’s also listed on over 10 utility patents? Needless to say, we were looking forward to chatting with Steve and getting his perspective.

As a mechanical engineer with three decades of professional experience, what’s your superpower? 

I think my professional superpower is probably bringing my experience to bear on new projects or new problems since I’ve seen many different products, many different design approaches, and many different manufacturing methods.

What do you wish you knew when you started out in your career?

I wish I had realized how important it is to maintain connections with people you enjoy working with or possible mentors. I’ve certainly kept in touch with coworkers from the past, but I wish I had worked harder to maintain connections with more of the people that I truly enjoyed working with.

You’ve been working for yourself almost as long as you worked traditional engineering jobs. What do you love most about freelancing? 

I love the freedom that it affords. While it’s true that I’m responsible to each client for doing a good job, and therefore, it’s almost like I have many bosses instead of just one, I can choose when and where to work on projects. If I’m feeling most productive at 3:00 a.m., then that’s when I can work on a project. 

Design for manufacturing (DFM) optimization is one of your specialties. What top rules do you adhere to?

I try to never reinvent the wheel if there’s a good solution out there for a particular problem. I’ve seen designers come up with new ways to do things when there’s a perfectly good existing solution. And while that can be fun, it also requires more R&D to prove out the concept, which usually translates to more time and money versus picking a proven solution. Sometimes a new design is absolutely needed, and then of course the fun of innovating and breaking new ground is a great part of the job.

I also try to get the supplier or manufacturer involved as early as possible. Feedback from someone who’s an expert in their particular field always helps make a design better and improve the design for manufacturability.

For clients new to hardware, what are some things they should do before starting their project?

You’d be surprised at how many people think they have a unique product, but when you do a quick web search, it turns out that that product already exists. Due diligence is important! The other thing that can be invaluable at the start of a project is developing a PRD, or product requirements document. This makes sure that everyone is on the same page when it comes to solving the problems or building in features for the product.

What are some red flags to avoid early on in the product development process?

Feature creep is always a factor to watch out for. Especially if a new product hasn’t been proven out with a previous version, or is different from other existing products in its class, it’s best to get a simple version working very well, and then expand it to additional functionality. 

What’s the greatest lesson you’ve learned from a mistake?

This probably has to do with delegation of work. There have been times when I knew I should’ve done something myself and ended up having to redo it myself anyway, and equally, instances when I shouldn’t have spent valuable time working on something that could have been delegated or outsourced.

With the recent tariffs and drive to manufacture in the US, what wisdom can you offer folks looking for stateside manufacturing options? 

Chinese manufacturing still has an undeniable advantage when it comes to overall supply chain. The ability to get innumerable different components and manufacturing processes all within the same region makes it hard to beat that manufacturing capability. Even with tariffs, one might find that it’s cheaper and faster to develop a product overseas.

Of course, that’s not always the case, and I know several of my own clients who are reshoring their manufacturing with great success. Some of this is coming the hard way, where they have to develop their own expertise in-house with automation, manufacturing processes, and other areas where we just don’t have as many skilled manufacturing workers as we used to here in the US.

It seems that the key areas that make it worthwhile to manufacture in the US are products that can benefit from shorter lead times, or reduced shipping costs if the products are large or bulky items, or very high-volume products that can be assembled using automation.

What’s the most innovative product or display you saw at CES this year?

I saw a lot of hardware and software products that were aimed at making life easier for people with disabilities. I think this is an important category and a great application of technology, including AI.

You recently moved from Chicago to Vermont. What’s your favorite thing about Vermont and what do you miss most about Chicago? 

I love the peace and quiet and closeness to nature. Having lived in big cities for all my adult life, it’s truly a breath of fresh air. One of the things I miss most about city life is being able to walk or take public transportation. These days, I have to jump in a car to do almost anything. That said, it’s a lot nicer driving on quiet country roads.

What lights you up outside of work? 

I really enjoy traveling and exploring new places. I also love skiing and mountain biking. I’ve had the chance to ski in Europe, Japan, and Iceland as well as the US and Canada. Combining my loves of travel and skiing is really fantastic. My most memorable ski trip was to Iceland, where we spent a week skiing in a remote wilderness (no lifts!) and living on a sailboat. We shared the wilderness with seals and Arctic foxes, and never saw other humans for that entire week.

informal is a freelance collective for the most talented independent professionals in hardware and hardtech. Whether you’re looking for a single contractor, a full-time employee, or an entire team of professionals to work on everything from product development to go-to-market, informal has the perfect collection of people for the job.